You've never tasted real Cognac until you've had this

This stuff makes your big brands, the ones with the big money and big advertising, taste like caramel-flavored sugar water, with an alcoholic bite — which, upon delving deeper into the ingredients, is somewhat in line with what these larger distributors are shilling as "Cognac." L'Artisan, a smooth, smoky Scotch-like liquor that leaves a coat of otherwise wine grapes lingering in your mouth, is a Cognac region-sourced hometown original, coming straight from the private reserves of the peasant farmers that provide most of their super drunk grapes to these major players.

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This brandy is aged from the "extra" barrels they keep hidden away from overreaching buyers and embargo-levying executives, hidden within cellars hidden inside bigger cellars hidden inside even bigger cellars tucked away on their family farm. Jewelry scion Evan Yurman and his partner/importer Nicolas Palazzi (whose family is from Bordeaux and is extremely familiar with the regions) approached these farmers looking for the most prized barrels — generally passed down from grandfathers and fathers — ending up with this inaugural 43.6% ABV batch, simply named No. 50, of 485 bottles dating back to the early sixties.